Crossing Runways

Larry and Alison Deyer are living the good life in a waterfront home on Long Island, N.Y., but all that is about to change. They work at JFK Airport as air traffic controllers and are active members of the Air Traffic Control Union (ATCO). On Aug. 3, 1981, Larry, the union's president, is preoccupied with the impending strike vote against the FAA, while Alison is about to give birth to their first child. This pivotal moment creates a turbulent wake of circumstances when they intersect with disastrous results. It begins when the government, desperate for replacement controllers, hires Alison back to work, but not Larry because she was considered to be on maternity leave and not on strike like him. It culminates when Alison becomes the central figure of an investigation involving a tragic "miscommunication" between her and a military controller hired to replace the strikers. Who's to blame? Is there an F.A.A. cover-up? With lost lives and dreams scattered on the runway, the truth emerges in a Congressional hearing. But it isn't over until Larry goes on trial for striking illegally against the government. Take a trip inside the world of air traffic control where Crossing Runways is a metaphor for life.

Terry Paddack's profession as an air traffic controller began on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands in 1976. After working for three years in the St. Thomas control tower, he transferred to Tucson, Arizona for a year and a half followed by a third career move to the New York Common IFR room at JFK airport.

In 1981 it was closed and replaced by a new facility called the New York TRACON, or Terminal Radar Approach Control. While training there, Terry Joined over 11,000 other unionized controllers who went on strike, were fired from their jobs and then permanently barred by Presidential order from returning to any FAA facility to work in their chosen profession. These dramatic events provided the inspiration for this fictional account.

Terry holds a B.S. degree from California State University at Northridge. He currently resides with his wife on Long Island, New York and is employed in his subsequent profession as a Machinery and Equipment appraiser. He's still an active member of an air traffic control union because, unlike careers that can end abruptly, some bonds can never be broken.

This is his first self-published work.